Wise Words
Writings of reflection by the Stephen Wise Temple clergy.
Each Monday morning, members of our mailing list receive the weekly email “This Week at Wise,” and on Fridays, a “Shabbat Shalom” email from Rabbi Yoshi which include messages of thought, inspiration, and contemplation from our clergy, along with a schedule of events. Sign up and don’t miss out!
Wise Words – Monday, April 6, 2026
We are more than halfway through the festival of Passover, in these days that are known as Chol HaMoed. Meaning the “everyday of the festival,” these in-between days offer us a beautiful contradiction. Neither entirely sacred nor entirely ordinary, these days invite us to dwell in both and ask ourselves: What does it mean for something to be both ordinary and sacred? In the Torah, when we first leave Egypt, the journey isn’t neat or linear. There’s no straight line from slavery to freedom. There’s fear and complaining and moments of clarity, and long stretches of just… walking. The middle is where the Israelites learn who they are becoming. Chol HaMoed of Passover lives in that same space as the wilderness. Not Egypt. Not Sinai. Just the stretch in between—where nothing is fully clear, and everything is still becoming. I’m writing this while driving through the Mojave—the wide, quiet expanse in every [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, April 3, 2026
After the seder each year comes the Sabbath of chol ha-mo’ed Pesach (the intermediary days of the holiday). The question is no longer just, “What does the story mean?” It is the urgency of: “What are we going to do with it?” Passover does not end when the seder concludes. In some ways it begins there. In the days since seder night, perhaps some of those questions have stayed with you. I’ve been especially moved by a set of reflections shared by my colleague at Temple Sinai in Brookline—my former chavruta (study partner), Rabbi Andy Vogel—which have continued to echo for me in these in-between days: What does it look like, in our time, to push back against forces that diminish human dignity, not only in dramatic ways, but in the quiet, daily choices that require courage? Who are the people, like Pharaoh’s daughter, whose moral clarity inspires us and how might we follow their example? Who [...]
Wise Words – Monday, March 30, 2026
As we gather around our Seder tables this year, we revisit the foundational story of our people, in which God sees and grants freedom to a displaced, powerless community, once dismissed as strangers in a strange land. Passover refuses to let us forget our humble beginnings. We were ivrim – outsiders – without a voice, without protection, and without legitimacy. And it is precisely from that place that Torah commands, no fewer than 36 times, to love the stranger, to protect the vulnerable, and to remember—not abstractly, but morally—what it felt like to be unseen. This year, that memory feels particularly urgent. In this politically dissonant era, we will have guests and family members at our Seder tables with increasingly different visions of justice, security, and responsibility. Passover does not demand uniformity of opinion. But it does insist on a shared moral starting point: that the experience of oppression should sensitize [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, March 27, 2026
To offer a sacrifice in ancient Israel, you needed fire. And since sacrifices were offered daily, the Torah instructs the priests in this week’s parasha to kindle an אֵשׁ תָּמִיד (eish tamid)—a fire that never goes out. Inside that fire, the Kedushat Levi—Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740–1809)—sees two kinds of light: Light flowing from God to us (אוֹר יָשָׁר—or yashar), and light from us, reflected back to God (אוֹר חוֹזֵר—or hozer). It’s a relationship. God sends us light—life, breath, possibility, sustenance, love, goodness, blessings without end, water and orange juice, strawberries and chocolate. And then we send light back. But the question is: What can we actually send back? What light can we return to God? It’s audacious, even a little ludicrous, when you think about it. God gives us everything the universe has to offer and what exactly do we give back in return? How can we respond meaningfully? One powerful, beautiful, compelling response comes [...]
Wise Words – Monday, March 23, 2026
Proximate Holidays, Parallel Narratives: The Stories of Esther and Moses Speak to Our Times There are approximately thirty days between Purim and Passover, and although these holidays are set in dramatically different historical periods, their stories share notable similarities that make them particularly relevant today. Both stories originate in the Hebrew Bible, which is largely set in the land of Israel. However, the central figures—Esther and Moses—exist entirely outside of Israel. Their narratives are distinctly diaspora stories, illustrating what it means to be Jewish in foreign lands and the challenges inherent in diaspora life. Despite initial reluctance, both Esther and Moses ultimately become saviors of their people. According to the stories, Moses was born into slavery in Egypt, while Esther came from an ordinary background as a Persian Jew. Despite their humble origins, they rose to greatness. Moses’s journey to the Egyptian royal court is well known. He remained [...]